Owning a movie theater right now is no picnic. Deciding when and how to reopen as society confronts the next phase of the pandemic is complicated by patchy public health patterns, uncoordinated regulations and unpredictable customer behaviors.
AMC, the biggest theater owner in the U.S., plans to begin reopening on July 10th. Last week its chief executive Adam Aron told Variety that AMC would not require customers to wear masks, only to reverse course the next day following a public backlash. Regal and Cinemark, two other big cinema chains, also plan to be up and running by mid-July. All three companies, plus many smaller ones, have begun sharing their plans to provide moviegoers a safe environment to allay their health concerns and lure them back to the big screen.
Among those plans: encouraging customers to use cashless and contactless payments for tickets and concessions, which may prove to be a windfall for Santa Monica-based Atom Tickets.
<p>"We designed Atom for convenience," co-founder and chairman Matt Bakal told dot.LA. "But it has benefits from a health perspective." </p><h2>Reason for Optimism</h2><p>Founded in 2014 to streamline the moviegoing experience, Atom Tickets has since raised over $100 million, including backing from Disney and Lionsgate. The company has also just <a href="https://www.atomtickets.com/press/press-release/atom-tickets-announced-as-a-premiere-launch-partner-of-the-new-snap-minis-platform" target="_blank">announced a partnership</a> with Snap that will embed Atom's ticket-buying functionality directly onto the social media platform; all the proceeds will go to Atom.</p><p>"Last year, about a third of tickets in the U.S. were bought digitally," Bakal says. That lagged well behind digital ticketing for sports and concerts, which he says typically fall in the range of 65% - 85%. "Our business could grow significantly as people shift from box offices to digital." </p><p>But will people show up? </p><p>A recent poll that Atom sent to its customers yielded a somewhat surprising answer. </p><p>"The hypothesis was that young people would be more eager to go back than older people because they feel more invincible...whereas older folks might be less excited," Bakal explains. </p><p>But of the 1,500 people who responded, demand was high regardless of age, with 77% of all respondents saying they plan to return within a few months.</p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/eWDImAHULwcZE-yI4C90JvHeut9J2C-aZ4P9K7Oy7H_CJbrZTR7f5hJEdgBPISXUyk4PwU42yK1nq_TnlicbhNwLJka9_RITYM6R6p5-8W-A8b9MnMrlVfj15i2xD4HgzSrlFDNs" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGZVdESW1BSFVMd2NaRS15STRDOTBKdkhldXQ5SjJDLWFaNFA5SzdPeTdIX0NKYnJaVFI3ZjVoSkVkZ0JQSVNYVXlrNFB3VTQyeUsxbnFfVG5saWNiaE53TEprYTlfUklUWU02UjZwNS04Vy1BOGI5TW5NcmxWZmoxNWkyeEQ0SGd6U3JsRkROcyZobz1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmxoNS5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20mcz0zMDImaD05ODQxODhhOTY2YWI3MDNjMTM4MGQ2OGVkOTFhNmJlNmQzMWZiNmRkZDQwOWFiYTYyODgxY2VmNTY5MjQ2YTliJnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTI2MTUzNDY3MzMiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjE1MTMzNTA4fQ.-CYCCYAR_D7ptkl-8B-OcjWmOnvoeVojGK9PjxFlXTk/img.jpg" id="33e6c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c7ddb2df4ae14661e3a02c334b70d8d2" /></a>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Data courtesy of Atom Tickets</small>
</p><p>The respondents also identified which safety measure was most important for them to feel comfortable enough to return to the theater. Spaced seating was most popular, with over 42% of the vote. Enhanced cleaning procedures came next at 21%, followed by staff and customers wearing masks at 14%.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/89QAws9zQkwES2hnCL_0xEsJXN642nCrTIRLIc91iSeGkHr-o3PE6n-jTEVjLPGAI7n54R0dM4Q9hZJxy6McU6f9BbSmoCmXokFr-d5omkh4f8TCpGmHgTVC8uQiNFnw2cRRhqZE" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGODlRQXdzOXpRa3dFUzJobkNMXzB4RXNKWE42NDJuQ3JUSVJMSWM5MWlTZUdrSHItbzNQRTZuLWpURVZqTFBHQUk3bjU0UjBkTTRROWhaSnh5Nk1jVTZmOUJiU21vQ21Yb2tGci1kNW9ta2g0ZjhUQ3BHbUhnVFZDOHVRaU5GbncyY1JSaHFaRSZobz1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmxoMy5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20mcz01NiZoPTA1N2EzMGIxNWNkZmU4N2EzYmM5ZDA2OTNmODExMjhiM2UxMTNmYWYwOWNjYmE4YmYxZDNmMjBkOThlMjVhODQmc2l6ZT05ODB4JmM9MTcyMTg3OTU0NiIsImV4cGlyZXNfYXQiOjE2MjAzNjc4MTV9.WEeuMvtI9dlio6Zbws_jfKdZfrMhdBMbCOuTHe0_Eh8/img.jpg" id="65b45" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="463f093595ff5c2e7fdf07ce643a6e1f" /></a>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Data courtesy of Atom Tickets</small>
</p><p>Social distancing will limit the number of customers theaters can hold, but Bakal notes this concern may be overblown.<br/></p><p>"To some extent movie theaters can be profitable around 25-30% capacity," he says.</p><p>But he acknowledges that high-demand bursts are essential to many theaters' bottom line, meaning that they generally need to fill up at primetime hours and around big openings of major films – like Disney's <em>Mulan</em>, which is set to open on July 24th (<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/mulan-late-july-release-date-jeopardy-1287110?__twitter_impression=true" target="_blank">for now</a>); or <em>Tenet</em>, directed by Christopher Nolan, which for several months had been slated as the first major post-lockdown release before being pushed back two weeks by Warner Bros. to July 31st. </p><p>Still, Bakal suggests that lifestyle changes brought on by the pandemic, such as an increase in remote working, may shift consumers away from past patterns of movie-watching. </p><p>"People looking for empty seats might say Wednesday or Monday is fine," he says. </p><p>Bakal says theaters may also shift their screening allocations by devoting more screens to popular films, for instance, in order to meet demand while limiting crowd sizes.</p><p>Atom currently provides ticketing services to over 2,000 theaters, around 350 of which also use it for concessions. Bakal says interest has grown among Atom's customers to add on the concessions service, and that prospective new customers have been calling. </p><h2>The Snap Partnership
</h2><p>"We'd been talking to Snap for about three years about making something," Bakal says. "Then it got serious 12 months ago. They told us they have some interesting long-term platform growth opportunities... and (asked) would we be interested in developing something."</p><p>A Snap spokesperson told dot.LA that "working with Atom was a no brainer." She cited a 2018 study commissioned by Snap, which is also based in Santa Monica, that found its users buy half of all movie tickets sold in the U.S.</p><p>The partnership is part of Snap's new "Minis" program, which was introduced at <a href="https://dot.la/headspace-and-snapchat-2646169354.html" target="_blank">the company's Partner Summit</a> earlier this month. Minis are new utility features that integrate into Snap users' chat windows. Though not all of them will include a financial transaction, they expand the platform's foothold in ecommerce. <em>The Information </em>previously <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/snap-plans-expanded-developer-platform-that-echoes-wechat" target="_blank">reported that Minis "echo WeChat",</a> the Chinese chat-and-more platform whose parent company, Tencent, owns about 10% of Snap. </p><p>"We're looking for ways to bring engaging experiences to our app – specifically experiences that reinforce the product philosophy behind Snapchat, which is that it's for (you and) your real friends," a spokesman said. "This is really the first time that we're introducing more utility to Snapchat for real friends."<br/></p><p>The Atom Mini, called "Movie Tickets by Atom", was one of several that Snap <a href="https://dot.la/headspace-and-snapchat-2646169354.html" target="_blank">previewed at its recent summit</a>. It allows friends on Snapchat to watch movie trailers together, chat about whether they'd like to see it, choose a theater, select a seat (and see their Bitmoji characters occupying the socially-distanced seating chart), and individually purchase tickets — all within the app.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/o7EZMRzxFuhh0DLo8yyn217iY9AqNPcbam_tyC_DtJgjhShX5Fuxldfrwl5Fx6h5XiMJMp9fufV4ock1rvu0LG4PZQ1D2SGrArcoUvY_tRzsATI2UIFFs0SFwRVsN6b7SY-8k0Rk" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGbzdFWk1SenhGdWhoMERMbzh5eW4yMTdpWTlBcU5QY2JhbV90eUNfRHRKZ2poU2hYNUZ1eGxkZnJ3bDVGeDZoNVhpTUpNcDlmdWZWNG9jazFydnUwTEc0UFpRMUQyU0dyQXJjb1V2WV90UnpzQVRJMlVJRkZzMFNGd1JWc042YjdTWS04azBSayZobz1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmxoNi5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20mcz0zMTkmaD01NmI3ZGQwM2E1YTJkMGZiYmMxNTAyMGU4OTU1NTQ1ODY4MGViOGZmNDE1Yzg5YTJlODAwYzQ2ZjNmN2U0NTIzJnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTUyMDY0MTkzNSIsImV4cGlyZXNfYXQiOjE2MTQ0ODU2MDh9.YmZdhhjIFU3peqZWfDBmbsWfmsIhh3ID2H3hqi_BfbA/img.jpg" id="0fa7d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5e9c90780fa3dd97313fcd3c0db846d5" /></a>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/o7EZMRzxFuhh0DLo8yyn217iY9AqNPcbam_tyC_DtJgjhShX5Fuxldfrwl5Fx6h5XiMJMp9fufV4ock1rvu0LG4PZQ1D2SGrArcoUvY_tRzsATI2UIFFs0SFwRVsN6b7SY-8k0Rk" target="_blank">lh6.googleusercontent.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>"By platformizing Snapchat, we're bringing it to the world. And we're bringing the world to Snapchat," the representative said.<br/></p><p>She described the Atom Mini as the "most fully fledged" that the company will have in its first batch. It will likely launch sometime after Snap's next earnings report in mid-July, she said. </p><p>"It emphasizes the whole philosophy behind Minis, which is facilitating activities (and) experiences, online and offline with your real friends," she said. </p><p>"The most popular form of out-of-home entertainment is movies," Bakal says. "If you take sports and concerts and you double it you get movie attendance. When you look at that you say, 'Wow, all these people are on (Snap) already saying I want to go see the new Bond movie, I want to see Black Widow' -- so why not when they're having conversations there not even make them need to leave Snap...It became a very natural thing to do."</p>
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The movie ends with the mother's severed head in the refrigerator. And it's in there because of the choices you made.
But you can return to the beginning, make new choices along the way and produce a different ending on Whatifi, a new, choose-your-own-adventure storytelling mobile app.
Mobile-first storytelling isn't exactly new. Nor is choose-your-own-adventure. But Whatifi founder Jaanus Juss believes his game plan to combine quality content, interactivity and socialization will make his app a hit, particularly with younger crowds.
"It's a new entertainment category that defines how the next generation will entertain themselves," he says.
<p><span></span>Following a $10 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, this L.A. and Estonia-based startup launched on iOS last week with two "branching story" titles. Adding the app to Android is one part of a "long product roadmap," the founders say.</p><p>
"Anatomy of a Decision" follows 30 years of a man's life, starting with his parents' visit to a fertility clinic, and proceeds along 64 possible story permutations based on the seven different decisions viewers make along the way. </p><p>In "As Dead as it Gets," viewers make four decisions to determine which of 16 fates will befall the main character, who is on the verge of death and wants to return to the land of the living.
</p><p>
Although Whatifi's founders think these 80 storylines will keep their viewers busy for the time being, they are calling for writers and directors to help them build out their content library.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5NzkxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzkzODQ4MH0.jIwztIw13w5DtPWraba6QlkF2hh-vGtIAPW2jryYya4/image.jpg?width=980" id="23298" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="23107b7d761d0706509366919efab7df" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">"Anatomy of a Decision" and "As Dead as it Gets" are the two movies available to watch in the newly released app.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of Whatifi</small></p><p><br/></p><h2>What If I Want to Watch?<br/></h2><p>
Juss' background puts him and his team in a strong position to provide advice to creators.
</p><p>
As chief executive and founder of Creator City, an Estonian creative network, Juss and some experimental colleagues began exploring how to introduce interactive storytelling into live theater. At first the crowds were too shy.
</p><p>
"Estonians are introverted," he explains. "Then we gave them shots a half-hour before the show, and it worked great, but that obviously wasn't a sustainable model. So we injected technology."
</p><p>
The idea took off. Juss and his team ran over 1,000 interactive shows. Around the time he and his eventual co-founder Hardi Meybaum began discussing the possibility of bringing the format to film, Netflix released <em>Bandersnatch</em>, a choose-your-own-adventure format from the creators of <em>Black Mirror</em>. That was enough validation for Meybaum, who'd formerly been an entrepreneur, to leave his venture capital gig in Silicon Valley and join in on the Whatifi journey about a year ago.
</p><p>
"I thought this was a unique opportunity to build a large consumer company," he says.
</p><p>
While testing the product in New Zealand, Singapore and Sweden, the team watched to see whether users who finished one storyline would return to the beginning to try another route.
</p><p>
"If they don't do that then the whole premise of branching stories isn't successful," Juss says.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGYWdIWVVkeVBwa19FLW14SGFxRW1ic1BjeUdTbmtKLUdWV3Vxb18tWWdyejVWanotcS1rNVE1VjFab2lrRUxrUS1aWnQ1emFMcmtHbTlMLVJBeDhrT1F6ZG84bTN3bFo1ZmE1ZTNKaGI2U3d0d01DSGhlZVk5ZE91NzdMMXRKTEUxT2VYVkVBNiZobz1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmxoNS5nb29nbGV1c2VyY29udGVudC5jb20mcz03MTUmaD1iZWQ4ZTI3YTk4ZTg5ODZhMjcxZmY2NGE3NmFiZWE1NzQxOTU5OGVlNjI1MjMxYmI1OGUwMzU5NWUwYjU1Njg3JnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTQyNzg1NzcxMDEiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjMyMTg4NDcyfQ.AuTcT0VYpSAPipgpula8Az5zBZFlhTJrp5pAmnOxB8Q/img.jpg" id="e4375" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1e15650af5825da9be9cfac5844121f5" />
One decision point of "Anatomy of a Decision"
Courtesy of Whatifi
<p>In those test markets they saw that 90% of users went back for another go, the founders say. And in the first week since launching in the U.S., that number has risen even higher.</p><p>Whatifi is targeted at a younger audience. They are more "native" to mobile, Juss says, and they were the audience segment who seemed to most enjoy the experience back in the live-theater version.</p><p>In addition to providing unique stories, Whatifi incorporates a social element. When users boot up the app, they enter a waiting room, where they can invite friends to join them in a viewing party. As the stories reach decision points, the movies pause and all the friends must vote. The story only continues if there's a consensus. Until then, friends must deliberate on which path to choose.</p><p>A key learning Juss took from the theater experiments was that the deliberation was often the part that was most fun. </p><p>And there's plenty more to explore.</p><p>"What we have so far is the simplest version that we've done in the theater," Juss says. "We can go much more complicated for telling the stories, but we'll ease into that."<br></p><p>Meybaum is enthralled by the possibilities.</p>
<p>"What makes Whatifi so cool and rewarding to work on is that, for us, there's content, social, the platform – it's all tightly coupled," he says. "When we are talking about the changes to come, they involve how to create content, the user experience, and also the social elements. It's the whole experience."<br/></p><h2>What if I Want to Participate?</h2><p>July 7th is the pitch deadline. The company expects to receive applications primarily from "young and upcoming" screenwriters and directors, but Meybaum tells dot.LA that <a href="https://studios.whatifi.com/contest/" target="_blank">anyone can apply</a>.</p><p>"You never know where the best ideas come from. We're excited to make it public," he says.</p><p><a href="https://studios.whatifi.com/contest/" target="_blank">The contest</a> has two parallel tracks: one for scripts only, and one for full productions. To help applicants get started, Whatifi provides a sample pitch, a story-mapping tool and a script template. </p><p>Up to 20 applicants will win $2,000 and qualify for the final round, for which they'll need to submit a full script – with a helping hand from Whatifi and its team of advisors.</p><p>Five winners of the full-production prize will receive $200,000 to turn their submissions into films for the Whatifi platform. Winners of the script-only prize will each receive $35,000, and the possibility that Whatifi will find a director to make the movie. The new films are scheduled to be completed by October 15.</p><p>Juss highlights one advantage the format provides to filmmakers: They need not suffer the pressures of having to make every decision themselves. That can be outsourced to the audience.</p><p>"Many writers probably wonder where their stories might have led, had they taken a different turn at a crucial point," says Johannes Veski, writer and director of "Anatomy of a Decision." </p><p>"The chance to see where all those potential paths lead should whet the appetites of screenwriters and filmmakers across genres."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5NzkxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTUyNDU2MH0.kdAyFZhuuvGeqt9jRsD_mRwAifkQpw0WVV7fQb91IMQ/image.jpg?width=980" id="22270" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d7d23321a94d42892d28ccd6c1a45cb4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of Whatifi</small></p><p>Juss acknowledges that writing a script with multiple permutations can be a challenge. Veski agrees.<br/></p><p>"Maintaining coherence is hard enough when writing one story," Veski says. "I aimed at 64 paths and outcomes that all begin at a single point. I had to make sure they'd all logically lead back to the beginning and still make sense in relation to each other. It felt like like building a house of cards and changing the laws of physics on the way."</p><p>But both Juss and Veski think the learning curve isn't too steep.<br/></p><p>"We've seen that filmmakers can really get their heads around it," Juss says. "And once it's written it's not that different from a filming standpoint."</p><p>"Life is a single track of guesswork, projection, regret, and relief," Veski adds. "I'm intrigued by life as not one, but many possible paths. I see 'Anatomy of a Decision' as a mere mortal's chance to trick fate and try on all the couldas and shouldas."</p><p>--- </p><p><em>Sam Blake primarily covers media and entertainment for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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